The winner of our Santa look-alike contest is...

What does it take to convincingly portray old St. Nick? Based on the submissions for this year’s Santa look-alike contest, a white beard, twinkling eyes and the ability to look dapper in a two-piece red suit are key.

In the spirit of the holiday season, we asked our readers earlier this month to email us photos of local Santa look-alikes. To our surprise, over 80 entries poured into our inbox from all over North Texas. After much consideration, our panel of judges narrowed the field down to 15 Kris Kringle doppelgangers, then turned the final voting over to our readers.

Winner: Tommy Casey, 57, Graham

Submitted by Gail Stephens

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In the end, over 6,000 votes were cast in our online poll, with the winner, Tommy Casey of Graham, receiving almost 30 percent of the total votes. Nominated twice, Casey is a local repairman who volunteers his time during the holiday season by playing Santa Claus at day care centers, schools and community Christmas events. Once, while traveling through the Nashville airport, Casey’s Father Christmas-like looks even caught the attention of Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon.

For the enjoyment of our readers, here is Casey’s photo, as well as the photos of our other 14 finalists. As an added bonus, we’ve also thrown in other Santa look-alike submissions to fill our pages. We thank all of the entrants — red suit or no — for sharing their jolly smiles and helping us get in the holiday spirit. Merry Christmas!